.S. Team Pulls Out A Silver Medal

Had you read all the previews and predictions of the WEG show jumping team competition, which concluded tonight, Aug. 31, you would have assumed the German team won tonight.  Not so.  In fact, they finished third, behind a jubilant Dutch team for gold and a gritty, determined American team in the silver medal position.

German Ludger Beerbaum—who has plenty of international medals of his own—paid the ultimate compliment.  “When you see the performances of the Dutch and Americans, you know that they were not lucky to win.  They were simply far better than us, and we have to admit this,” Beerbaum said.

Things started off tough for the U.S. team, with Margie Engle pulling a rail at the second fence and Laura Kraut taking rails at the first and fifth fences.  “He felt super today.  I just used a little too much leg on the way to the second fence [where they had the front rail of the oxer down], but then he jumped a mile over everything else,” Engle said of Quervo Gold.

And Kraut admitted that coming into the ring right after Christian Ahlmann had jumped—and the crowd was roaring—unnerved Miss Indpendent.  “She’s always been a little afraid of crowds, and with all the noise, I could barely get her in the chute to the ring,” Kraut said.  “She was a little spooked, and she had the first fence down, which was a shocker.  Then, she had another rail.  They were two errors that she normally doesn’t have.”

McLain Ward and Sapphire buoyed the U.S. hopes again with a masterful clear round.  For Ward, the performance made up for a disappointing 4 faults yesterday in Round 1.  “I thought that was an unlucky and an odd 4 faults,” he said.  “I woke up this morning, and I said to myself, ‘I have to jump a clear round today.  Needless to say, it was a very long day for me, repeating that to myself!  Obviously, the 4 and 8 faults weren’t the start we were hoping for, and I was feeling the pressure, but my horse felt great in the warm-up, and we knew we could do it.”

But they weren’t the only ones with troubles—after Germany started off the evening with a perfect clear from Ludger Beerbaum, Christian Ahlmann dropped the final fence, fence 13, with Cöster. Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum put them back into the running with a clear round aboard Shutterfly, and they were in silver-medal position.  But the week got even worse for Marcus Ehning, who had a rail each in the speed round and the first Nations Cup round.  Noltes Kuchengirl pulled the back rail of an oxer at 4B, causing the crowd to gasp and dropping the German team into fourth.  Then, she added insult to injury by crashing through the narrow-faced wall brightly decorated as a postage stamp at fence 6. She slid into the fence, sending the wall into pieces, and Ehning retired.

When Madden entered the arena on Authentic, the wall that Ehning had destroyed was still being rebuilt, and Madden showed her cool as she circled again and again, then briefly pulled up and walked Authentic by the wall once the bell rang. A clean round would clinch a medal.  She rode a precise round, choosing to put eight strides in the bending line between the wall at fence 6 and the planks at fence 7, and again adding a stride between fences 9 and 10, but still finishing within the time allowed.

The Ukraine team, who had impressed in yesterday’s round to stand second overnight, finished a painful .01 points behind Germany, just out of the medals. The Ukraine’s first pair, Bjorn Nagel and Pilgrim, looked to be a little behind the clock and picked up the pace on their way to fence 11 but paid the price at fence 12, dropping a rail. Jean Claude van Geenberghe was the drop score, with rails at fences 8C and the final fence. But Gregory Wathelet brought them back into the picture, posting a clear round as the team’s third rider. When Katharina Offel took to the ring on Atlanta, she knew she could guarantee the silver medal with a clear round, but a heartbreaking 1 time penalty put them in fourth and assured the U.S. the silver and Germany the bronze.

The evening looked grim for the Netherlands when Piet Raymakers started them off with 18 penalties, for rails at fences 8A and 8C and fence 11 and a refusal at fence 6, the same fence that caught Noltes Küchengirl.

“From that point on, I knew every fault you make is going to count,” said Dutch rider Jeroen Dubbeldam. “But I pulled everything together to be relaxed and calm and stay with my horse. My clear round was very important to make the other two [riders yet to come] believe in it again.”

And Dubbeldam did redeem them with a perfect clear, and even a rail down at fence 5 from Albert Zoer on Okidoki couldn’t keep them out of the running, since they’d started the day with an almost six-point lead, more than a rail in hand for the gold. So by the time Gerco Schröder and Eurocommerco Berlin entered the arena, as the final pair, they knew they could have a rail and still win the gold.

“I was a little nervous when I started,” admitted Schröder with a laugh. “But I thought I would try my best, and my horse was fantastic. He gave me everything.”

As Schröder cleared fence 12, the next-to-last, the crowd already began their roar, but he still got the job done on a perfect score, guaranteeing the team gold and setting himself up in second place individually, just .43 penalties behind Madden individually.

The Netherlands’ lead was decisive (11.01), with the U.S. team (18.85) more than a rail behind, and the Germans (19.16) less than 1 time penalty from the silver.  The Ukraine finished fourth (19.17), and Switzerland was fifth (24.89), with all of these teams qualifying for the 2008 Olympics.

Madden and Authentic still lead individually, having kept up all the rails over the three rounds so far, but Eric Lamaze of Canada lost his bid for an individual honor. Coming into the ring in second place individually, Hickstead looked strong tonight, and their hurried pace caught up to them at fence 7, a plank fence off a bending seven strides. He then pulled the vertical at fence 8B and the oxer of fence 8C in the triple combination to put their chances of medal out of reach, since he stands 27th, and only the top 25 advance to Saturday’s next round.

Edwina Alexander of Australia, who had been in fifth place, also dropped from the top when she tried to add a stride in the six-stride distance from fence 3 to the tight two strides at 4AB. Isovlas Pialotta dropped 4B and then had the final fence down for a total of 8 more faults, but they still made it into the top 25, standing 22nd on 10.24 penalties.

Bernardo Alves of Brazil, who had come into the round in fourth, dropped to 18th when Canturo faulted at fences 5 and 12.

The Germans may still have a chance at one of the gold medals they were expected to earn in show jumping, since Beerbaum is in third, on just 2.70 penalties, behind Madden (0) and Schröder (.43). Dubbeldam is fourth (4.10), and Ward is fifth (4.87), ahead of Michaels-Beerbaum (4.92).

“There’s still a lot of jumping to go,” said Madden. “The hardest yet is to come on Saturday. My horse feels good, and I hope to be in the final on Sunday, but we have a long way to go.”